This invention relates in general to beverage cartons and in particular to a new and improved sleeve-style beverage carton for use with a carton filling machine having traveling flight bars.
In the design of carton filling machines of the type having traveling flight bars, it is known to provide a sleeve-style type package which is moved on the filling machine while it is subsequently filled through open ends of the sleeve-style carton. It is known to provide end flaps on the sleeve-style cartons which are subsequently closed after a plurality of cans are positioned within the carton.
With the advent of dust flaps being utilized with sleeve-style beverage cartons of the type before-mentioned, problems have been encountered using existing carton filling machines which could adapt to a sleeve-style carton having dust flaps positioned on the ends of the carton and immediately adjacent and glued to the end flaps.
The use of cartons with dust flaps in existing machines with traveling flight bars requires modifications in either the carton or the machine in order to accommodate the dust flaps during the filling operation. Since modifications to the filling machine become more expensive than modifications to the carton structure itself, the Applicant's new and improved carton thereby is able to be utilized on existing filling machines.
The use of dust flaps on a sleeve-style beverage carton also results in problems encountered during the closing of the ends of the carton whenever the dust flaps are first positioned inwardly into the carton opening. A frictional drag has been encountered between the dust flaps and the side flaps during the inturning operation which has been overcome by the Applicant's new and improved carton.